Marcus Aurelius: Five Takeaways from a Decade of War [Defense One] Plus Blistering Alternative View from Phi Beta Iota Editors

Five Takeaways from a Decade of War Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, in a keynote address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies this week, signaled to military commanders that they should assume the across-the-board, automatic spending cuts imposed by sequester over the next decade will remain in place indefinitely. “We do not have …

Michael Shank: Why the White House Won’t Win the Afghanistan War…

Why the White House won’t win the Afghanistan war Washington Times, Wednesday, November 6, 2013 – Cause, Conflict, Conclusion by Michael Shank, Ph.D. WASHINGTON, November 7, 2013 — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry desperately needs a win on the Afghanistan war. Unfortunately, however, it appears increasingly unlikely he will get one. Despite repeated visits …

Berto Jongman: Bits, Bytes, & Stuff

Assad’s Staying Power in Syria Asteroid Risk Brain Injuries and American Football Deep Web Worries Washington Fukushima Video of Explosion Reactor 3 — Lies at Highest Levels Iraq Inquiry in UK Being Blocked NSA Archive on Mexico’s San Fernando Massacres Pakistan Printing & Distributing Counterfeit Indian Currency Radical Mindfulness Saudis Investing in Nukes

Neal Rauhauser: Greater Irans Greatest Problem — US Fumbling with Geo-Political Terrain It Does Not Understand…

Greater Iran’s Greatest Problem The current political boundaries of the Islamic Republic are a fraction of what the Persian empire was at it’s peak. This map of Scythia & Parthia shows what have been fairly stable boundaries for Iranian culture – from the Tigris river in the west to the Indus in the east. Geographically this …

Parag Khanna: The End of the Nation-State?

The End of the Nation-State? New York Times, 14 October 2013 Singapore — Every five years, the United States National Intelligence Council, which advises the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, publishes a report forecasting the long-term implications of global trends. Earlier this year it released its latest report, “Alternative Worlds,” which included scenarios for …

Marcus Aurelius: CSA Interview + AWC SSI Reminder — Answers from the 1990’s Long Ignored…

PDF (1 Page): (U) CSA Interview (Defense News, 28Oct13)-1 Interview GEN. RAY ODIERNO US Army Chief of Staff Defense News 10/28/2013 At last week’s Association of the United States Army annual meeting and exposition in Washington, thousands gathered to hear senior leaders explain where the service is headed in this era of austerity. And the …